Hastings Hill Historic District's Hill Street, laid out in 1726, follows a north-south ridge through the countryside and intersects with Spruce Street and Russell Avenue three miles northwest of the center of Suffield, in north central Connecticut. A three-quarter mile length of Hill Street, centered on the intersection, was incorporated in a local historic district in 1963, and is also the national register Hastings Hill Historic District. It is an improved country road, narrow, and quiet, with a cluster of frame houses and an old church at the corner, several historic houses on its west side, and unimproved land on its east side.The historic interest of the Hastings Hill Historic District stems from the fact that it is a country crossroads settlement, dating from the late 18th century. It is still a country crossroads settlement to this day, and it is this continuity that is important to its identification as a historic district. Some houses, especially at the north end, have been built since World War II, but they have conformed to the pre-existing sense of scale, size, and spacing, and have contributed to rather than intruded upon the sense of time and place.

Architecture, Religion, Theater:The cluster of buildings along Hill Street that forms the Hastings Hill Historic District includes good examples of Greek Revival and early 19th century architecture. The establishment here of the earliest Baptist Church in Hartford County, and one of the earliest in the state, gives added significance to the site. The continuing rural circumambience and complete lack of intrusions give a sense of authenticity to this stretch of country road.

The church, the green, the historic houses, the memory of the theater, and the undeveloped land combine to provide the charm and delight of the Hastings Hill Historic District. This three-quarter-mile stretch of Connecticut country road is a small but significant part of the community's heritage. The newer houses, built to contemporary designs, are sympathetic in scale and mass to the older houses, are well spaced, and do not detract from the historic character of the Hastings Hill Historic District.

The crossroads activity of blacksmith shop, tavern, church, school, and store at Hastings Hill augmented the area's basic activity, which was farming. The essentially rural nature of the area persists to the present, in contrast to the center of Suffield, which is far more built up, as noted in the National Register Suffield Historic District.

[1] District information retrieved from the town website http://www.suffieldtownhall.com/.
[2] Report of the Historic District Study Committee of Suffield, 1962, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Assessors information and Parcel IDs retrieved from the website http://data.visionappraisal.com/SuffieldCT/DEFAULT.asp.
[4] Additional information obtained from Suffield Historic Districts Handbook, accessed from the website http://www.suffieldtownhall.com/filestorage/2951/1674/1070/Suffield_Historic_District_Handbook.pdf.
[NR] Ransom David F., Suffield Historic District, National Park Service, 1978; original nomination form accessed at SHPO Library, Hartford; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/79002669.pdf; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/79002669.pdf.

The northern boundary of the National Register historic district was altered by an addendum that removed the numbers 1288, 1308, 1271, 1289 and 1305 Hill Street from the local historic district. [NR]